Dr. Erik Summers '87

Q: What challenges have you faced working during the COVID-19 pandemic?
A: The biggest challenge has been communicating to our large number of employees, our patients, and their families the changes that have been occurring daily. Do we wear masks for every patient? Who do we test? How many COVID-19 tests do we have? Do we have enough PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)? Are we restricting visitors? Who can come to work? Do we need more negative pressure rooms? Are we putting up tents? Where are we putting up tents? Can we recycle PPE? What do we have to do to recycle PPE? What is our treatment plan for COVID-19 positive patients? Do we want to put them on vents or not? Do we use Remdesivir? What about Hydroxychloroquine? When things are changing daily, it becomes a significant challenge to get up-to-date information to thousands of employees. But that information may be critical to their well-being.

Q: How has your work changed during the COVID-19 pandemic?
A: As CMO, I deal with multiple issues and process changes in the organization. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, I had about ten significant initiatives I was working on. Most of them were around Quality. All that stopped when the outbreak occurred. Instead of being proactive with hospital issues, we became reactive to COVID-19. What's going to happen today? What do we need to work on tomorrow? Who knows? Work has become reactive to daily COVID-19 issues. That is beginning to slow down.

Q: What successes have you celebrated during the coronavirus pandemic?
A: The most significant success we have had is that our patients aren't dying with COVID-19. We have only two deaths from COVID-19 in the last month. We are an 850-bed hospital that is about the same size as UAB. We have had multiple positive COVID-19 patients, but they have predominantly left the hospital. There are many reasons why our data is different from other large academic hospitals. But one is the culture of the institution. Wake has a culture of putting the patients first and doing the little things that make a difference in a patient's care. Before Wake Forest, I was at the Mayo Clinic, and they had a similar mindset. The heart of an organization is one of its most critical components. Wake has a good heart and a patient-centric mission. That shows up in our patient outcomes. As an organization, we also came together quickly to make changes and help our patients.  You can only do that when you have people committed to the mission.

Q: What has been your most challenging moment working in healthcare?
A: The financial impact. Like most hospitals around the country, we are losing millions of dollars from the COVID-19 outbreak. Patients are staying at home, even when they should be seeing a doctor or coming to the hospital. That impact, as well as our organization stopping elective surgeries, has had a significant impact on our bottom line. Reducing salaries and furloughing employees has been very difficult. These are people who are committed to patient care and the organization. It is very difficult to make those decisions, but we have to make those decisions to sustain the organization.

Q: What has been your proudest moment working in healthcare?
A: It is very gratifying to see Wake Forest put patients first. We've always been that way, but it's nice to see us stepping up again and helping our community. Not all hospitals have that mentality.
 
Q: When and how did you decide to pursue a career in healthcare?
A: When I was 12. My father abandoned me one day, and that was the day I knew I had to help people. Being homeless gave me tremendous perspective.
 
Q: How did your experience at Springs shape your career choice?
A: Springs didn't shape my career choice at all. What Springs did was teach me how to think outside the box. Way outside the box! That has served me very well in my career. In many ways, I'm still the same person I was in High School. That's probably a little scary to the teachers and students who knew me at Springs.
 
Q: What advice would you give Springs students who want to pursue a career in healthcare?
A: Being intelligent and getting good grades is nice. But if you're going to be great in healthcare, learn how to communicate with people. Be extremely thorough in your work and care about your patients. 75% of the time, the patient will tell you exactly what's wrong with them. You just have to listen. You don't need to order 50 tests and do multiple procedures. Just talk to the patient and examine them.

Q: What can the Springs community do to help during this pandemic?
A: Focus on the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people in Alabama who will never get COVID-19, will need help. The economic impact is going to be huge, and many people are going to struggle. Find those people and make a difference.
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Phone: 205.988.3350
Indian Springs School, an independent school recognized nationally as a leader in boarding and day education for grades 8-12, serves a talented and diverse student body and offers admission to qualified students regardless of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Located in Indian Springs, Alabama, just south of Birmingham, the school does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.

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